Daring Do and the Curse of the Lost Tomb

by Fedora

Chapter 4: Meeting CAP

They sat in darkness for a number of minutes. Scootaround began hyperventilating, and it took a bit of reassurance from Daring Do to calm her down enough. Though they couldn't see anything at all in the dark chamber, Daring felt around until she could discern the sides of the nearest wall. It was rather solid, but in places a few of the rocks were looser than the others.

Pressing against the looser rocks, Daring was able to create small holes in the wall to allow a bit of light in and to allow oxygen to flow more freely. She could not, however, create a space large enough for either pony to get out through.

"Alright, so we can breathe and see..." Scootaround mumbled, "But how are we going to get out?"

"I'm working on it," Daring replied exasperatedly. The gears in her head were turning as quickly as possible to find a solution, but she had few options.

The obvious choice would have been to search for a release of some sort, but a quick glance around the dimly lit room revealed no such lever. In fact there wasn't anything of interest at all. The entire chamber seemed devoid of any features save for one wall on the interior that had a depression in it. The depression was small and had odd grooves on the side of it. Daring raised a hoof to press against it, but little happened.

"That groove serves some kind of purpose," reasoned Daring, "I doubt they'd have a chamber devoted to simply trapping ponies inside. I bet it's to discourage anypony from going into whatever's past this wall with the groove."

"You think there's more?"

"Yes," Daring said. She felt as if a lightbulb had just gone off inside her head, for she had a sudden idea. She reached inside her shirt and pulled out the pendant. Even as she acknowledged the presence of the thing she felt the uncomfortable nagging start up again in the back of her head. It pulled at her subconscious, begging to be returned.

"Hey, have you been wearing that thing this whole time?" asked Scootaround.

"Yeah, check this out," Daring replied. She slid the pendant into the groove in the wall. As it slid in, it was clear to see that the protrusions around the edge of the circle of the pendant matched up with the grooves on the outside of the depression.

"Eureka!" exclaimed Daring. The pendant fit the space perfectly! Now all she had to do was give it a turn and....

The wall slid aside slowly, grating across the stone floor beneath them. Another chamber was revealed inside the building, but it was down another level and the light from the few holes in the wall that had been made did not penetrate the darkness of it. Fortunately there was a wooden shape resting on one of the steps leading down that gave off an odd odor at one tip.

Daring reached for the torch and placed it on the floor in front of her. She had the tools needed to light it aflame; a chunk of flint and a piece of high-carbon steel. Holding one in each of her front hooves, Daring set to work. The steel struck the flint in the other hoof, sending off a few stray sparks here and there. Daring repeated the motion one, two, three times before one of the sparks caught on the fuel-soaked tip of the torch. It spread to envelop the entire top of the stick, spreading a flickering glow throughout the entire chamber.

Ducking down into this new area, Daring and Scootaround found it to be a little more populated with various objects than the previous one. A primitive lever mechanism sat in one corner, and was presumably used to release the large stone blocking the exit. On the opposite wall was an old engraving of a world map, which had some major inaccuracies due to an incomplete knowledge of the western hemisphere. The other half of the world seemed to be more or less correct, and there was a certain spot in what was now the eastern part of the Great Hoofiet Union that had a circle etched into it.

"The other side of the world is right, but there are big mistakes in this side," Daring murmured. That was more evidence that whoever had made this settlement had come from another continent.

"There's something written over here," Scootaround noticed, tapping on the side of the engraving. Daring turned it over to look at what Scootaround had noticed, squinting. She recognized the language, but she wasn't well acquainted with it. She couldn't read what it said either.

"Can you read it?" asked the filly. Daring shook her head. She did, however, have an idea. Reaching into her bag, Daring produced a piece of thin paper and a wax crayon. She placed the paper over the writing and began to rub the crayon over the surface of it. As she did so the paper began turning brownish red with the crayon's wax, but it also had white lines on it where the wax skipped over the writing on the stone block. What resulted was a piece of paper that had a copy of the unknown text on its surface.

"I'll take this back and show it to somepony who can translate it," Daring explained. There was still a half sheet of the paper that didn't have any crayon on it. She turned the stone block back to where the map was engraved on it, and began rubbing the crayon on the paper while holding it over the section of the world that had a circle drawn on it.

"I have a feeling you see," Daring said, "That the text and the map are related. Wherever that circle is in real life probably hold something of interest, and the words have some kind of meaning as to a specific location."

"So it's a clue?" Scootaround asked, raising her eyebrows. Daring nodded, and the filly looked slightly disappointed.

"What were you expecting?"

"I thought there was gonna be a bunch of treasure or something," Scootaround replied, sighing.

"That's what you always find in these kind of places, right?"

"Well this is just one leg of the trip," Daring stated, "There's four of them according to legend. I bet that the other places have other clues and what was that?"

"I don't know, you said that the clues were-"

"No, what was that?" Daring insisted, motioning for Scootaround to be quiet. Both ponies listened for a moment. She heard it too.

There was an engine running, and the sound was coming closer.

****

"So what're we after here, B?" came a voice, followed by the slam of a metal door. Daring had extinguished the torch and motioned for Scootaround to keep quiet and still so that she could listen and peer through the loose stones in the upper chamber.

"These ruins haven't been explored at all yet," replied another voice, and Daring saw a stallion come into view. He was a little portly to say the least, and boasted an impressive gray beard to go with his dull yellow coat. He wore a bowler cap over his head that was beaten and scuffed. Daring saw that the truck had letters on the side of it- CAP.

"I know that, but what kind of loot do you think we'll get?" spoke the second voice. Daring thought it sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite place the speaker. It belonged to a mare, whoever it was. The term 'loot' made her feel uncomfortable. Were these ponies here to pillage the place?

"I don't know, and I don't really care. We're in the hole about 200 bits and we need some kind of major haul to sell off to get it," said the bearded pony, "I don't care if it's paintings, carvings, gold, silver, little spears made by some important thing years ago, whatever. If it's old and if it'll sell on the market, grab it."

So they were thieves! That made Daring furious. She remembered Dusty's rant about some group that had taken to raiding various sites and selling what they could find. What a way to treat valuable pieces of history! Why, if she could get her hooves on them...

"Look," said the mare. Daring saw for a brief moment a grayish flank and a blonde tail as the other pony walked past the wall she was looking out from.

"There's hoof prints in this soil," the voice noted, "Somepony's been here. It leads up to this spot in the wall..."

There was a few seconds of pause, and then something slid into place. All around the inside of the chamber Daring heard things moving and fall into place. The slab that had descended to block the entrance to the chamber was moved aside, and sunlight poured into the chamber.

Oh no, Daring thought, This is bad.

"Hey, something opened up!" called the mare.

"Scootaround," Daring whispered, "When I say run, we run. Right for the bushes. Find a place to hide."

There were hoofsteps outside the wall, and the two ponies murmured for a second. The noises then moved around until they were at the back of the building, face to face with Daring Do and Scootaround. The four stared blankly at each other for a second until Daring suddenly recognized the mare and broke the awkward silence.

"You!" she exclaimed. The mare glared back at Daring. Enraged, the archaeologist pony threw herself at the mare, striking her with her hooves. The mare reeled back from the impact, but grabbed onto the nearest thing she could find with the end of her hoof- the pendant. The chain snapped from around daring's neck and the item fell onto the ground, along with the pony who had been wearing it.

Elise threw herself onto Daring, smashing into her back with a sudden ferocity. The stallion didn't quite know what to do, and just stood by. Scootaround leaped behind the back of Elise and began hitting her with her little hooves. At this point the stallion took action and kicked the little filly, sending her sprawling into the ground.

"You bastard!" Daring choked from underneath the mare. She threw Elsie off from her and lunged at the bearded stallion, but he dodged the blow and struck Daring with his back hooves.

Daring gasped as the hooves struck her right wing and she heard a sickening snap. Then the pain came. Shots of searing pain dug into her back as the broken bones were shifted around. The pony cried out, gritting her teeth.

"Run!"

With sudden vigor both she and Scootaround took off running.Every step Daring took sent shocks through her body, but she pressed on. The other two ponies stood by for a moment, unsure whether to pursue them or not. Elsie took off after around the side of the building with an angry look on her face, but they were gone.

"What in the name of good grace was that?!" demanded the stallion, looking incredulously at Elise. The blonde pony shook her now messy mane out of her face. A bit of eyeliner had started to run down the side of her face, and her lip was bleeding.

"That," she started, "That, Broken Bank, was Daring Do."

****

Daring kept a low profile behind the bush. It was large and thick enough to hide her from sight of the ponies that were still wandering about the ruins. With a stab of pain she felt her right wing flop down to her side uselessly. Something would have to be done about that.

Apparently Scootaround had the same idea, for she had scooped up Daring's bag that had been dropped on the ground in their haste. The filly produced a compact container that had a crude red cross painted onto the side of it- Daring's first aid kit. She passed it over, and Daring popped the container open. Inside were woven bandages, alcohol pads, and gauze strips on a roll. This kind of thing had happened to her before, repeatedly in fact. It was a wonder that her wing was able to heal after having been broken time and time again. She winced as she began wrapping the appendage, trying to keep it held in place so it wouldn't move around and get worse. She could hear the other ponies talking as she did so.

"Who's Daring Do?" asked the male voice, belonging to the pony Elise had called Broken Bank.

"She's one of those academic-oriented mares who focus on stuff from a knowledge base. Professor at the University of Canterlot and a department head at the museum in that city, too."

"Dr. Do," Scootaround whispered, interrupting Daring's eavesdropping session. The pony held a hoof to her mouth, making a small shushing noise. She was tryingg to listen to what the others were saying.

"So she's probably against the Coalition for Archaeological Procurement?" asked Broken Bank.

"Oh I'd imagine so," Elsie responded, "Though that's not why she charged me like that."

Daring furrowed her brow, knowing the inevitable question was going to be asked. She continued to wrap her wing up, holding the end of the strip in her teeth.

"Oh? Do explain."

"Well, a couple of years ago I was working on a dig with her. She thought I was going to steal something and got really mad at me. She's a little crazy. It blew up to the point where she had to be asked to leave. I don't think she's buried the hatchet yet."

Daring spat the end of the gauze out of her mouth, looking furious.

"That's a lie!" she mouthed, looking very upset.

In truth, what had really happened was a much different story. They had been on a team together, that much was true. However, a group of armed Gryphons had interrupted the expedition in South Equestria, and Daring had been separated from the group. She ran and hid from the Gryphons, and ended up in a set of ruins that was what they had been after in the first place. At one point she had met up with Elise, who assured her that there was an escape plan. Daring had trusted her, and wound up walking right into a trap. She had almost died, and she would have had she not realized what was going on with seconds to spare. Elise had been a double agent working for the Gryphons and had tried to kill her.That was the real reason why she had charged at Elise.

"Look what we've got here," Broken Bank declared. Daring's heart sank as she realized that she had forgotten to scoop up the pendant.

"What is it?"

"Whatever it is, It's made of gold, it's ornate, and it's got an emerald gemstone in the center. I reckon we can sell it on the market for a hefty price."

There were a few minutes of silence that followed. Daring heard hoofsteps as the ponies explored the ruins around them, and intermittent shutter clicks.

She had finished wrapping up her wing, and had gotten to work tending to the various cuts and scrapes on both herself and Scootaround. Scootaround was relatively unhurt except for a minor cut and a few bruises, but Daring had received a bad blow to her back right leg near the fetlock and hoof. Her skin had been opened and a steady ooze of blood trickled out from the wound. Though it stung, she had to sterilize it with what was available in the medical kit. The pony then began to wrap the remainder of the gauze strip that was leftover from wrapping her wing on the wound until it was completely covered.

"Scootaround," Daring whispered. The filly stuck her head up and crept over.

"Place your hoof on this part of the bandage and press down," she instructed. Scootaround looked concerned.

"Won't that hurt you, though?" she whispered, looking unsure.

"A little, but this needs pressure on it for a minute or two. Trust me on this."

"Alright, if you say so," Scootaround replied. She placed her hoof carefully over the spot on Daring's leg that she had been instructed to press down on and applied minimal force.

"A little harder," Daring instructed, "It needs pressure. That's how the bleeding is going to stop."

Scootaround pressed down a little harder and Daring twitched visibly. She took a sharp inhaling breath.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," Daring replied through gritted teeth, forcing a smile. It twinged a bit, but it was necessary. The two ponies stood that way for several minutes, not speaking or whispering to each other. After about five minutes the CAP ponies began speaking again.

"Did you photograph everything?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good," Broken Bank said, "Did you find anything good?"

"Not really, though there was some kind of map and some writing in this one section. I photographed that, we can check it out later."

Daring groaned.

"No valuables?"

"None at all."

"Well shit," Broken Bank muttered. After a moment Daring heard two metal doors slam shut, and the engine roared to life. The sound of the sputtering vehicle grew fainter and fainter until it could no longer be heard.

It was then that Daring Do stood up all the way. Scootaround stretched as well, moving her neck from side to side to loosen her neck up. The pair of ponies walked back into the now-empty site of the ruins, where the two CAP ponies had been a few minutes before.

"Well, now what?" Scootaround asked, "Do we go back home?"

"No," replied Daring. She looked to the sky. The clouds had gone away a little bit by now, and the afternoon sun was out. By her estimation it was around five in the afternoon.

"So...."

"So we get that pendant back," Daring said, wincing with a sudden twinge of pain as her wing protested. The tire tracks had beaten a path through the woods through the dirt and the mud. Daring motioned for Scootaround to follow her, and the two began following the tire tracks.

****

Panting as she climbed over tree stumps and through bushes, Daring had finally made it to the perimeter of the camp. Scootaround followed not very far behind, hopping between tangled clumps of vine and downed tree branches. The pair of ponies had wandered off the makeshift road once they realized their proximity to the camp itself. They didn't want to run the risk of getting caught, after all.

The camp itself was made out of a series of canvas tents arranged in a circle around a campfire. There was an old stone wall next to one of the tents, perhaps the farthest outlying vestiges of the ruins. The truck was parked on the side, and it was just behind a group of carts that were a little heftier than the gas-powered vehicle. The reins on them suggested that they would be pulled by ponies. Currently one of the carts was being loaded up with various items of interest such as crates and packages.

"Alright, here's the plan," Daring said, beckoning for Scootaround to come closer.

"We'll hop over that wall, and ambush somepony. Drag him around to the other side of the tents and out of sight. Then we need to find out where in the camp the artifacts are being kept. That pendant is among the artifacts.

Scootaround nodded. She understood. Daring licked her lips, and approached the side of the stone wall that faced into the forest, away from the tents. There was a tree branch that hung down low close to the top of the wall about eight feet up. She could work with that.

Daring uncoiled something that had been at her side the entire time- a leather object resembling a rope. It had a small strap at one end of it that she could slide over her hoof, and tapered gradually to a thin tip over a length of 12 feet.

The whip.

Daring's whip was a hand-me down from her grandfather, who used to run a farm with a group of rather rowdy cattle. He had told stories of how the whip had a psychological effect on the bulls, and how sometimes all he would have to do was reach for his belt and they'd calm down. Most of the wear on it had come from Daring's use of the venerable farm tool. She had found that it was useful in a number of ways that most ponies usually wouldn't expect.

Such as getting up and over the top of this wall without use of her wings.

Daring made a sudden motion with her hoof that was strapped into the whip. The thin end soared skyward with a light cracking sound, and then proceeded to fall back to earth uselessly.

"Alright, let's try that again,"

The second time the crack was slightly louder. The end of the whip wrapped around the branch and held snugly. Daring gave a tentative tug on her end to see if it would hold. It held.

With a quick motion the pony ascended the wall vertically, her back hooves working against the side of it while her front hooves grasped the ends of the whip, hoisting herself up further. In no time she was up at the very top of the wall. Daring flipped the whip over onto the other side so that Scootaround could ascend as well.

The filly jumped up, trying to grab onto the thick end of the whip that Daring had left for her. She couldn't get a good grip with the bottom of her hooves very well. She jumped again, again, and again with no success. Finally she jumped and bit into the leather, holding on to the end of the whip with her teeth.

She probably looked real silly dangling from a tree branch by her teeth. That didn't matter, for a moment later she had slid her own hoof into the strap and was climbing up the side of the wall just like she had seen Daring ascend. Up and over the top she climbed, uncoiling the whip from the tree branch and jumping down into the side facing the camp.

She landed with a thump, and dusted herself off quickly. She couldn't see Daring at the moment but she found herself hidden behind one of the canvas tents. Deciding to wait, Scootaround coiled the whip up nice and neat for Dr. Do.

A moment later Daring reappeared, tumbling out of the back of the tent and landing with her back to the ground. A stallion with a small khaki hat covering his shock of orange hair was on top of her, and seemed intent on crushing her windpipe. Daring sputtered and tried to breathe, but the stallion pressed down to the point that she couldn't get a breath out at all.

A swift kick to the side of the face sent the stallion onto the ground himself, and this time it was Scootaround who stood on his chest, pinning him down.

Daring gasped for breath, rolling over and coughing into the soil. This sent up a cloud of dust around her face. The archaeologist recovered after a moment, taking deep breaths and regaining her orientation. She peered around and was surprised to see that Scootaround had immobilized the stallion and was standing literally on top of his chest. Daring brought her face up to see the pony and glared.

"Now that you're done struggling, perhaps you can answer some questions," Daring began with an interrogative voice.

"I'm not telling you anything!" the stallion shot back. Daring furrowed her eyebrows.

"Tell us what happened to that artifact Broken Bank brought in here. The pendant," demanded Daring sternly. Again the stallion shook his head, refusing to tell her. Daring bit her lower lip in frustration, and looked off to the side while shaking her head.

"Mister," Scootaround began, looking down into the face of the pinned pony, "You guys stole that from us, and we gotta get it back. Where'd you put it?"

"I'm not telling you two anyth-"

The stallion's words were cut off as Daring placed her hoof right over his trachea so that he couldn't speak. She had a very cross look on her face, and her eyes met the stallions as they bulged out.

"All I have to do is squeeze just a little harder," she said quietly, staring into the stallion's eyes.

"I'd suggest you answer the question."

She released from his throat and he gasped for breath for a moment, tears streaming from his bulging eyes.

"Alright, alright lady," he sputtered, "All the stuff's on a cart that's already left."

"It's already left?" asked Daring, eyes widening. If it was already gone then they were out of luck entirely. Unless...

****

"Dr. Do, normally I don't question your crazy ideas," muttered Scootaround, "but this is just ridiculous."

"Just follow my lead," Daring replied. The two ponies were crouched on the ground beneath the gas-powered truck, inches from the bottom of the vehicle and pressed right up against the dirt. Daring gave the signal to the filly, and simultaneously they both scooted out the sides and swung the doors open. With one smooth motion they righted themselves and entered the vehicle, slamming the doors shut.

"Hey, get away from that truck!" yelled a voice, and Scootaround saw several CAP ponies rushing at them from the other side of the camp.

"Here they come," she said. Daring grimaced from the driver's seat and turned the key in the ignition. The vehicle's engine turned over and roared to life. Daring glanced at the various gears and levers inside the vehicle. There was one that had different letters on it: P, R, N, D, and L. There were two pedals beneath the seat and a wheel that she could steer with at torso height. Daring stepped on the pedal on the left, and nothing happened.

"Here they come!" Scootaround warned as the angry-looking ponies drew near. Daring pressed on the right pedal. She could hear the sound of the engine turning, but the vehicle didn't move. She pressed harder and harder and the sound got louder and louder, but still the vehicle remained put. Hooves clanged against the side of the vehicle and the driver's side door was thrown open. A stallion with the CAP logo on his hat stood in the opening, reaching in to throw Daring out. Daring turned and kicked him in the chin with her back hooves, sending the pony sprawling backwards while still holding the handle that opened the door. Scootaround yelled and slammed her hooves into the lever with the letters on it, moving it to "R". Immediately the vehicle sped up in reverse, springing the door wide open and dragging the CAP pony hanging onto it in the dirt. He still held on firmly however. Daring didn't ease up on the gas and the truck continued to accelerate backwards, crashing into one of the canvas tents. Daring took a moment to switch the lever to where it said "D", and them floored the pedal once more.

The truck took off at breakneck speed, and the door remained wide open as the pony held tight, intent on getting Daring out of the truck. Daring swerved and slammed the left side of the truck against the stone wall by accident. There was a terrible scraping sound and the door was torn clean off from the side of the vehicle, the pony with it. Both door and stallion were left in the dust as the truck took off into the forest, following the makeshift road after the cart loaded with stolen artifacts.

Comments

[Borg]

Oh, those pegasi and their balsa wood wings. They're so silly.

And the moral of the story is: don't steal a getaway vehicle for immediate use if you don't know how to control it.